Fiber process.



J'. YUUNG. HB'EH PROCESS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5 1913.

Patented July 20, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

HI J. YOUNG.

FIBER PROCESS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5. 19173.

Patented July 20, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IIII-IIII IWT@ o ,laiIIlummvfvI lo.

Homie J. YouNe, or CINCINNATI, oIIIo.

. FIBER' PROCESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2o, 1915,

Application led May 5, 1913. Serial No. 765,674.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be itV known that I, HOMER J. YOUNG, a citizen of Vthe United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented .certain new' and useful Improvements in Fiber Processes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention deals with the liberation of hemp fiber from the plant, and' it consists in a system embodying unique structures, characteristic'relations, and treatments novel in nature andsequence whereby an essentially superior fiber maybe derived from the stalk by a continuous operation andwithin a short time from its reception from the field, without rendering long time customary prelimi- :nary steps necessary.

The primary object of this invention is to devise a structural organization intimately and harmoniously related to a sequence'of manipulative steps constituting an Vessentially commercial process, making for aninexpensive compact and self-contained manufacturing installation well adapted for an economic and rapid handling of hemp by the numerous modifications in structure, re-

lation, steps and sequence thereof contemplated by this invention, drawings depicting a preferred installation have been annexed as a part of this disclosure and in such drawings, like characters of reference denote corresponding views, of which A Figure 1 portrays in perspective one end of a building embodying my installation,l

showing the means instrumental in subject'- ing the hemp plants to certain initial steps of my process. Fig. 2 is a section taken through line 2--2 of Fig. 1,showing the construction of the retting tank. Fig. 3v is the same view of the rear end of the said building showing more clearly the linal steps in the process resulting in a product bundled for commercial purposes. Fig. 4 is a detailed section taken in a vertical plane through line 4-4 of Fig. 1, showing more partsthroughout allV the Vclearly certain details of the and the by-product classifier.

Continuing now by way-of a more detailed description, it will be convenient to describe details of structure in connectionwith the disclosure of the steps of my process in the plant elevator sequence in which they will preferably fol-` low in practice. l c It may be preliminarily statedv that this lnstallatlon may be conveniently made in connection with a two-storied building, utilizing the upper floor for preliminary operations and the lower floor for immediate delivery of raw materiahas Well as the con cluding operations yielding the same as a finished product. Conveying plants to stal/sing' machina- This operation is carried out in any appropriate way, depending upon the conditions of installation. Thus, in the preferred form the raw material is received on the ground 4iioor andl an elevator Afdelivers itv to a concave receiving table on the upperfioor. This elevator provides a table 1,. upon which the attendant will place the material preparatory,T to -pushing it through the opening 3 into a position determined by the comb 2, such that it may be eectively seized and conveyed upwardly by means of an endless belt t having rake-like prongs 5 and passing around appropriate pulleys within the elevator box. During their transit the plants will be dried by means of the steam pipes 7, which insure an elimination of any undue dampness in the plants, either initially had or acquired during their storage. By regulating the speed of the conveyer belt and adjusting the fiow of steam in the pipes 7 the plants may be automatically correctly conditioned preparatory` to the next following playing, threshing and stripping operations. That is to say, the leaf on the stalk, as Well as the .seed-pod, will be made crisp and dry. The stalk itself should also be lwell dried sothat it will be split full length when subsequently run between the crushing rolls.

The driedplants are received upon the .comb 6 of the concave table B, from which they are manually removed by an attendantV stationed at this point, who feeds them into vthe stalking apparatus.

Threshz'ng, flag/ng and stripping the planta-This is done by means of a stalking machine C, which is intended to deliver the cleaned stalks, from which the fiber is subsequently obtained. The operator lays the plants (butt-end Ito the left) on a steam table 8, and then feeds themylaterally onto lthe traveling belt 9, so that they pass under the companion endless belt and are thereby moved laterally to cause their blossom ends to pass under the action of the langu-V larly positioned rollers 11, 12. It is'tobe noted that the table 8 has a lateral extension 13 upon which the leaf or flowering end rests While acted upon by the rollers 11 and 12, The one roller is a flayer, and thresher,

e., it has short lengths of straps, ropes or whips to break theseed-pods and thresh out ,onto the table 14.

Breaking stalks along fiona-The. pur- --pose of this operation is to 'break or crush theY stalks so that the lines of cleavage will run longitudinally, and open up the interior ofthe same to the action ofthe degumming solution and expedite that operation, and

aus

permit it to be performed with the least injury to the fibers. The table 14 may embody va. plurality of surface rollers acting automatically to 'propel the stalks toward the rollers 15 ofthe breaking machine E, it bef ing notedth'at the stalks pass through such rollers butt-ends first, and from there onto the table 16, the butt-ends being urged against the foot board 18 by the action of the surface rolls 17, so as to bring the stalks again into alinement suitable for their subsequent progression ina lateral direction'- through the remaining steps. The rolls 15 are effective to ,crush all the llarge stalks without injury to the fiber by splitting them vthroughout their entire length, generally into quadrants. Rolls corrugated to break the stalks somewhat are desirable also.

Ulaemcally rettz'ng the stalker-This operation is carried out automatically in a retting tank F. The; attendant shifts the stalks from the foot-board 18 onto the portion 19 of the table, then pushes themlaterally on to runners 20. An endless belt 21 y carrying rake-teeth 22 passes around rolls lfor sprockets 23, 24v and 25, the two former being partially submerged and the latter being elevated as shown, so that the teeth engagethe stalks and carry them downwardly v along the runners 20, which curve downwardly, as indicated by 29, passes through the tank 26 within a distance from the bottom thereof, so `that the stalks are carried along while completely submerged inthe tank solution until ultimately they are forced up thefelevated end of the runners and onto the discharge board 30. Rods 30 assist in draining the saturated stock.

The tank is about 35 ft. longl and it contains about a 2% caustic aqueous solution,

and' it is kept at about 200 F. For the purpose of more economically maintaining the temperature and carrying off fumes, the tank may be covered by the hood .27 leading to the discharge pipe 28. The stalk travels under solution forabout 30 ft. andthe conveyer travels the length of the tank in about fifteenminutes, andordinarily about thirty pounds ofthe dry stalk .is fed'perminute through Vthe tank; the 'stalk' beingV kept straight and separated in thejform of small batches by the rows of teeth 22on the belt. Of course, these gures are subject to modiication in accordance with local considera7 tions, but under the conditions named, this operation will-suffice to effectively soften the gum or material cementing .the fibers' together, especially by reason ofthe prelimi# nary longitudinal crushing of the stalks, whereby the solution gains access quickly to Yall portions thereof.-The use of boraX is also proposed.

Y Washingam draim'agftke stalker-This operation is effected automaticallyby means of thelapparatus G. The stalks are .received from the board 30 onto thebelt 31k which Y travels around guiderollers 32,33, running considerably faster thanthel belt'21 so as to spread the stalks apart` and. expose them Y.

thoroughly to the action of a v washing and drenching spray. It is to be noted that these belts overliea tank l34v which carries a neutralizing solution (about 1% acetic acid) which is pumped up by the pump .35 into'the pipe 36 and then into the spray pipesk 3T, and out. on the stalks and then back to the tank. This solution is preferably cold, and after thestalks have-been well rinsed and Vneutralized thereby they,

are received upon the comb'38 and Ydirected transversely between the rotating rolls 39 and 40, which act as a squeegee, and squeeze out about 40% more `or less ofthe fluid. The efiiciency of this squeegee is enhanced by reason of thev fact'that the stalk V'fed therethrough is lirstebroken. v Y

(done in the evaporator H, into V*which the stalks are carried by the endless belt 41 that passesaround rolls42 and 43,.and through a closed chamber 44, preferably having an outlet vent 45 to take oil' vapors. By means Y of `an inlet pipe 46 .and suitable steam pipes 47, the interior of the evaporator H is maintained as nearly at a uniform temperature as possible,l which temperature is preferably at about 200 and the speed of the belt 41 is such that it 1s subjected to a forced evaporation for about twenty-five minutes. In-

asmuch as the stalk has irstbeen crushed or broken, as before stated, the drying by this evaporator` -is greatly expedited since the l,stalks areV exposed both'within and without to the immediate efectsofthe temperature.

Although ythe stalk has been evaporated` in the presence of steam, it has al tendencyto harden unduly and dry superficilly and somewhat strengthen the liber cementing material andthe outer` husk, and to counter this I propose .to spray or atomize hemp-seed oil obtained from the pipe 48 anddelivered by the spray pipes 49. -This will be quickly absorbed by the fiber tending to toughen and render it more pliable, but -withoutdisadq-vantageously affecting4 the .whole 'or body the stalk fromfthe standpoint of theultimate breaking operation. This oiling step conditions the fiber and helps make itsuitable for use by thespinners. The fibers will contain notmore than 4% of the oil. Tipplz'ng the stallcafWhen the stalks vreach the end of the belt 4l they are received on one or the other side-of the tipple I, which consists of a member having stalkreceiving arms 51 and eccentrically pivoted at 52 so that whenever a predetermined weight of stalk accumulates it will automati-V cally tilt and throw the material to oneside nor the other into chutes 53 and 54 as the case maybe. This tippleirr-this way determines the proper amount for eachskein or fiber which will be ultimately produced.

This is accomplished by means of the chutes J, which have slides 55,- 56 extending-at an angle of about 45 from the hoppers 53, 54. The butt-ends of the stalks lare brought against suitable gates preparatory toenter- 'ing the breaking rolls, and are `thereby brought into alinement, so that the fibers in the skeins will be similarly alined.`

Isolatz'ng the fibers from the bulla- This is accomplished-by means of'hemp brakes K wherein the stalks are spread and automatically fed between crimping rolls that partially mesh, so as to break the hulls of the stalk transversely into small pieces less than an inch long, so that the rolls will have differential movements, causing the fiber to pucker and forcing out the broken hulls.

. Such hulls are'drawn away by means of throw pipes 57 into the loft above and may be utilized as a by-productI for paper pulp and other purposes. A'

Scez'm'ng the fibers-This is facilitated by means of horses indicated by L, preferably in pairs, and in the form of elongated narrow tables; the fore part of which provides a closed top 58 about four feet long, across which the operator may throw the skeins as fast as they are received from the hemp-brakes, and facilitates tying the middle of the skeins by means of a piece of tow or short-length fiber. The tied skein is then l advanced by hand until one of the teeth of the endless belt 59 engages its middle and conveys it to the baler, and itV is noteworthy that two horses actin conjunction with the baler between their terminals, so thatthe skeins or hanks may bepacked in conversely arran ed layers, alternately Vlying in opposite dlrections. y n 1 Bg/-product cZassz'fier.-Reverting to the stripping, threshing and iiaying mechanism C, it will be .recalled that the leaf, seeds,

V, pods and stems removed from the stalks will pass down the chute of the classiierD and will drop .through aside blast of air (issuing through screen 62 from pipe 61) so that the lighter particles of leaf will be blown into passage 63fand drop into the leaf receptacle 64. The heavier seeds, etc., will f falldown passage 65,` onto a shaking screen 66, through which the `seeds will pass (together with some dirt) and thence onto screen 67 (dirt goes through into the boX V69) and the seeds then pass into boX 68, `from which they are removed fand oil eX- tracted therefrom, or otherwise disposed of. The pods,"etc., will pass down into boX 70.

Without further elaboration, the forego- `ing will so fully reveal the gist of this invention that. others can by ,applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting certain features that, from the standpoint of the prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention, and therefore such adaptation should and is intended'to be comprehended within reducing `the contained moisture in said` stalks by passing the same through a heated evaporating oven, then spraying the sufficiently dried stalks with oil, and then transversely breaking said stalks and eliminating the fiber therefrom.

2. A process of liberating hemp-fiber, consisting in isolating the stalks from the plant structure, then passing said stalks lengthwise between rollers to break the same in longitudinal planes, then submergin said broken stalks in a heated solution a apted to soften the fiber cementing material, then removing said stalks and mechanically cwA eliminating excess solution therefrom, .then

4reducing the contained moisture in said stalks by passing the same through a. heated e'vapcrating oven, and then transversely breaking 'said stalks andv eliminating the fiber therefrom. I 3. A process of liberating hemp-fiber, consisting in first isolating the stalk from the plant, then passing the stalks endWise between crushing rollers to break the same longitudinally and internallyv open said ing said stalks for a short period in a 2% longitudinally and internally open said stalks to the entry of solvent,then submerging said stalks for a short period in a 2% solution of alkali at 200 F., then removing said stalks and rinsing the same, .with an acidulated solution, then passingjsaid stalks through a squeegee to drain the same, then reducing the moisture content by a forced evaporation and finally Vmechanically liberating the fiber from said stalks. v

6. A process of liberating hemp-fiber, consisting in isolating the stalkV from the plant, then conveying said stalks through a solution at about 200 F., for a short period, then rinsing said stalks in acidulated solution and mechanically separate excess solution therefrom, then `drying the same by a forced evaporation, then treating said stalks With a softening material and finally liberating the liber therefrom.

7. A process of libera-ting hemp-liber, con

sisting in softening the fiber cement material of the fibers of the stalk, then atomizing solution of alkali at 200 F., then removing -`hemp-seed oil ,under same to soften said said stalks and rinsing the same with an acidulated solution, then eliminating excess moisture from said stalks, and then mechanically liberating the fib'er therefrom.

5. A process of liberating l1emp-ber,con sisting in 'first isolating the stalk from the plant, then Apassing the stalks endwise between.l crushing rollers to break the same stalks, and then mechanically liberating the fiber of said stalk.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand. Y

HOMER J YOUNG.

Witnesses:

ALBERT F. NATHAN, LomsE A. BECK. 

